Strahl

This case involved a dispute over the distribution of settlement funds arising from a class action brought by investors against ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited. The class action was brought on behalf of 552 investors who had lost money in a Ponzi scheme operated by Ross Asset Management Ltd (RAM). The litigation funding arrangements included a committee agreement under which a litigation committee was appointed. The committee determined a proposed distribution methodology and sought the Court’s approval of that methodology as fair and reasonable. Two claimants, J and T, objected to the proposed distribution and were represented by counsel at the hearing before the Court. The methodology largely based the distribution on an investor’s losses on the dishonest assistance claim, with a weighting based on the likelihood of success of the claim. The objectors said that the proposed methodology was not fair and reasonable because of the distinction between Class A and Class B investors. The Court considered the test for settlement approval, including whether the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable in the interests of the group members considered as a whole. The Court concluded that the proposed distribution was fair and reasonable to the claimants as a whole and to them individually, subject to one adjustment. The weighting of 75/25 per cent applied as between Class A and Class B claimants was adjusted to 67/33 per cent. The Court also granted the objectors’ legal costs.